Four years after the first hit film based on the book by Cressida Cowell, it’s time to take flight again over the Viking village of Berk.

Back in the old days, dragons were hunted for their nasty habit of plundering livestock.

But then a young Viking called Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) befriended a Night Fury dragon with retractable teeth.

Toothless got an artificial tail, Hiccup ended up with a prosthetic leg and the Best Animation contender lost out to Toy Story 3 at the Oscars.

In this 102 minute sequel rated PG for ‘mild violence and threat’, dragon racing has replaced the centuries old war between dragons and humans.

This new dawn feels rather like we’re in Harry Potter’s Quidditch territory crossed with the landscapes of Avatar.

Young Vikings voiced by American stars like Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig and Christopher Mintz-Plasse love the races, while the older (Scottish!) Norsemen played by Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson supply treats.

No longer landlocked on Berk, Hiccup and friend Astrid (America Ferrera) fly further afield and discover new dragons.

And so the mood changes to the kind of battle stations scenario that will decide if Hiccup is ready to succeed his father Stoick the Vast (Butler) as the defender of Berk.

As we prepare to commemorate the centenary of the start of the First World War, themes like war, bravery, honour and forgiveness are all explored.

The best moment though is when the reclusive Valka (Cate Blanchett) joins Hiccup and Toothless above the clouds in a scene so beautiful you’ll want to take it to heaven.

She runs a dragon sanctuary and by understanding Hiccup’s past he might be able to defend the future.

With multi Oscar-nominated British cinematographer Roger Deakins (Skyfall) advising, DreamWorks’ visual work is stunning, but the story feels fragmented by the mixture of strange accents and additional sub-plots.

Even though I’ve seen this twice to compare 2D and 3D (the latter was too dark for my taste), the plot didn’t become much clearer the second time.

My three children saw the 2D version and each gave a different verdict: ‘better than the original’, ‘not as good’ and ‘the same’!